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| |  | BIRMINGHAM were beaten 60-30 by title favourites Ipswich at Foxhall on Thursday as they await their first ROWE Motor Oil Premiership league points of the season.
The Curtis Sport Brummies were always going to be up against it against the powerhouse Witches side, who have hit the 60-point mark in each of their home appearances so far in 2025.
Brummies, in fact, became the first visiting team to reach 30, and that was largely down to a high-class showing from Danish star Michael Jepsen Jensen which included two very impressive race wins.
But there were slim pickings elsewhere, although Jonas Jeppesen once again earned full marks for effort and did get some reward in the second half of the meeting.
It was the worst possible start for the Brummies as they conceded 5-1s in each of the first three races, with the Witches making their way to the front either with fast starting or, in the case of Adam Ellis, blasting between Keynan Rew and guest Danyon Hume on the back straight of Heat 3 to join his team-mate Tom Brennan at the front.
Jepsen Jensen, though, put the visitors on the board with a dominant win in Heat 4 as he attacked the circuit to pull clear, whilst Jason Edwards held on for a notable third place ahead of Emil Sayfutdinov who was unable to make an impression from the unfavourable outside gate.
Brummies skipper Tobiasz Musielak spun and fell on turn four in Heat 5 as Brennan and Ellis raced to another 5-1, although the home side had a scare when Jason Doyle piled into the fence on the second bend of Heat 6 having been outgated by Jepsen Jensen.
Doyle was uninjured and MJJ charged away with the re-run ahead of Danny King, before Dan Thompson picked off Hume in the next for an Ipswich 5-1 with Sayfutdinov the winner.
The ever-trying Jeppesen prevented another Witches maximum the next by snatching second place on the line from Jordan Jenkins, transponders splitting the two riders by 0.01s.
The scoreless Musielak took a tactical substitute outing in Heat 9 but was unable to get on the board as Jepsen Jensen threw everything at Brennan who held on in a clash of unbeaten riders.
A straightforward Doyle/King 5-1 in Heat 10 made it 42-18 to Ipswich, before Musielak did get off the mark in a shared Heat 11 behind Sayfutdinov as Jeppesen held Thompson off for third.
Heat 12 produced another 3-3 behind Ellis with Jenkins slipping off as he tried to round Antti Vuolas on the second lap, but the Ipswich spearhead of Doyle and Sayfutdinov took their side’s seventh 5-1 in Heat 13 despite Jepsen Jensen’s efforts from gate four, which almost saw him take to the grass on the fourth bend after switching to the inside.
Brennan was the remaining Ipswich rider who could have scored a maximum but Rew, on his old home circuit, had his best ride of the night in Heat 14 to keep the GB racer in third place, although there was no stopping Thompson up front.
Doyle then won the last race ahead of Jepsen Jensen and Musielak to take the Witches up to the 60-point mark.
Brummies are back at Perry Barr on Monday (April 28) when they face Leicester in a crunch Midlands derby.
IPSWICH 60: Jason Doyle 11+1, Danny King 10+1, Tom Brennan 10, Adam Ellis 8+2, Emil Sayfutdinov 8+1, Dan Thompson 7+2, Jordan Jenkins 6.
BIRMINGHAM 30: Michael Jepsen Jensen 11, Jonas Jeppesen 5+1, Keynan Rew 5, Tobiasz Musielak 3+1, Antti Vuolas 2+2, Jason Edwards 2, Danyon Hume 2.
Ipswich win the aggregate point
Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT
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